Andrew's First Wrestling Meet

Andrew had his first wrestling meet tonight!  He did a great job on his first match ever!  The videos are the same match, it two parts:

Great job, Andrew!

Daniel's Band Concert

Daniel had a band concert tonight.  There were bands from the elementary schools, middle school, and high school, and at the end they all performed together--180 kids were on the stage at once.  I had a great view of Daniel playing his trombone.  Here is the final song with all the performers from all the schools.

Great job, Daniel!

The Music Man

Daniel and I went to see The Music Man at the Herberger Theater last night.  We gave it to him as his "experience" gift for Christmas.  He loves plays, and may even want to take a drama class in middle school or high school, he says.  I forgot about all the great music in the play.  I remembered many of the songs from seeing the play when I was a little girl.  They did a fantastic job, and the singing was amazing!

Robotics Competition

Andrew's team did a great job at the Robotics competition today!  They placed fourth overall out of 41 teams.  They also won the middle school Excellence Award, which means they excelled in all parts of the competition!

Jonathan Learned to Ride His Bike!!!

Jonathan has refused to ride a bike for a very long time.  We have tried multiple times to get him to ride it.  I knew once he learned, he would love it.  I have been having him walk his bike up and down the street without putting his feet on the pedals.  I knew he would get bored of this and want to try riding it.  I was right!  He said, “Come on, Daniel, let’s go outside and ride our bikes and get this over with.”  I came out with him and he seemed ready to try riding it.  I asked him if he wanted some tips and he said he did.  I taught him what he needed to do to get started.  He was already pretty close to getting it figured out.  I helped him a few times, and even held the seat to help him get going.  Once he realized he could do it, he kept trying and trying.  He was out there for almost an hour.  He got a little frustrated, but he didn’t give up.  It was so amazing to see him figure it out!  He can ride a bike now!  Woo hoo!  I was so proud of him for keeping at it for so long.  He was so excited that I took videos and pictures, and he wanted me to send them to Michael.  What a relief that he can ride!  

Wednesday night

This was the first week that Emily, Andrew, and Daniel all went to a church youth activity together.  They learned about goal setting, which is great at the start of a new year.  Jonathan goes to Cub Scouts on Wednesday afternoons, but he'll be home with Mom and Dad when the big kids go to their activities.  I can't believe how big they are getting!  Emily will be 16 in February, and Daniel will be 12 in May!

Of course, Jonathan wanted to be in the picture.

Belated Anniversary Dinner

When we originally planned our Christmas break, we were going to go to Flagstaff so the kids could spend some time in the snow.  Since we would be gone on our anniversary, we made plans to celebrate on January 4th instead.  Then, when we found out there was no snow and had to cancel our trip, we decided to go to dinner on our anniversary.  But, we still had our plans to go to Kai restaurant on January 4th.  So, I got two anniversary dinners this year!

Happy 23rd Anniversary, Sweetie!